A. There is created in the state treasury a "court automation fund" to be administered by the administrative office of the courts.

B. All balances in the court automation fund are appropriated and may be expended for service contracts related to court automation systems or for the purchase, lease-purchase, financing, refinancing and maintenance of court automation systems in the judiciary. The New Mexico finance authority may pledge irrevocably all distributions to the authority from the court automation fund for the payment of the principal, interest and any other expenses or obligations related to the bonds issued by the authority for financing court automation systems. Any balance remaining, after all principal, interest and any other expenses or obligations related to the bonds in each fiscal year are fully paid, may be appropriated by the legislature to the administrative office of the courts.

C. Payments from the court automation fund shall be made upon vouchers issued and signed by the director of the administrative office of the courts upon warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration. Any purchase or lease-purchase agreement entered into pursuant to this section shall be entered into in accordance with the Procurement Code [13-1-28 to 13-1-199 NMSA 1978].

History: 1978 Comp., § 33-3-25.1, enacted by Laws 1987, ch. 32, § 2; 1988, ch. 121, § 1; 1991, ch. 70, § 1; 1996, ch. 41, § 4.

Compiler's notes. — The provisions of this section were enacted as 33-3-25.1 NMSA 1978, but the section was renumbered for more logical placement as Chapter 33 relates to corrections.

Cross references. — For the secretary of finance and administration, see 9-6-4 NMSA 1978.

For payment of jury and witness fees, see 34-6-35 NMSA 1978.

For court automation fee, see 35-6-1, 66-8-116.3, 66-8-119 NMSA 1978.

The 1996 amendment, in Subsection B, rewrote the first sentence and added the second and third sentences. Laws 1996, ch. 41 contains no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, is effective May 15, 1996, 90 days after adjournment of the legislature. See Volume 14 NMSA 1978 for "Adjournment Dates of Sessions of Legislature" table.

The 1991 amendment, effective June 14, 1991, in Subsection B, deleted "for expenditure in the seventy-sixth through the eightieth fiscal years" following "courts" and deleted a second sentence which read "The balance in the court automation fund shall revert to the general fund at the end of the eightieth fiscal year" and, in Subsection C, deleted "quarterly" following "shall be made" in the first sentence and "and shall be approved by the secretary of finance and administration" at the end of the second sentence.